Police: Teens use Facebook to blackmail bus driver over sex acts

Two Bessemer City High School students say their school bus driver engaged in a sex act with them in their neighborhood, according to police.

Kevin Ellis

Two Bessemer City High School students used Facebook to try to extort $60 from a school bus driver with whom they engaged in sexual activity, according to police.

The female bus driver, Kwanda Carpenter, 33, faces two charges of sexual activity with a student by school personnel other than a teacher.

She was booked into Gaston County Jail on Wednesday night under a $5,000 bond. She has been suspended from her bus-driving duties at Bessemer City High School with pay, pending a school system investigation, said school spokeswoman Bonnie Reidy.

Carpenter denied having sexual contact with the students, according to Gazette news partner WSOC.

The incident did not come to light until Carpenter went to a school resource officer to complain about a private Facebook message the two boys sent her, said Gaston County Police Sgt. Josh Hamlin, who oversees the county’s school resource officers.

“The (students) sent her a Facebook message trying to extort money from her for not reporting the sexual contact,” Hamlin said.

The students sought $60.

This marks a first, said Hamlin, who has 17 years in law enforcement including time as a detective investigating sex crimes.

“This is the first time where I’ve had alleged victims try to blackmail the suspect,” Hamlin said.

Hamlin said the two teenagers, both 17 years old now, have been charged with blackmail.

Malik Ty Mel Moore, of 648 Dundeen Drive, faces two blackmailing charges. He was served with warrants Thursday and released into the custody of his mother.

The warrants state both Moore and Donja Phillips, of 625 Dundeen Drive, sent messages to Carpenter and threatened “to call the police and report that she had raped them if she didn’t give them money.”

Reidy said she was unaware of the students’ alleged involvement and did not know whether they would also face school discipline.

Moore’s mother, Tamara, said neither she nor her son would comment on the incident. Phillips could not be reached for comment.

The sexual activity did not occur at school nor on the school bus, but rather in the bus driver’s private car at a dead-end road near the boys’ homes, police said.

Carpenter, who is married, according to police, picked the two teenagers up around 10 p.m. on their street in the first week of October and engaged in a sexual activity with both of them, police said. The two men could not remember the exact date, Hamlin said, although the warrants list Oct. 3 as the date of offense.

She did not force the two boys to have sex, but sexual contact between a school employee and a student remains against the law, Hamlin said.

The two students broke the law when they tried to force Carpenter to pay hush money.

“They’ve both been charged with blackmail,” Hamlin said.

Carpenter reported the Facebook threat to the school resource officer on Jan. 11, at which time she was suspended with pay.

The threat came to Carpenter sometime in early January, Hamlin said.

Carpenter only drove a school bus for Bessemer City High School and has held that position since October 2010. She earned $12.91 an hour, according to school officials.

You can reach Kevin Ellis at 704-869-1823 or @TheGazetteKevin on Twitter.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.